AP Interview: Yanukovych admits mistakes on Crimea

AP Interview: Yanukovych admits mistakes on Crimea

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) — Defensive and at times tearful, Ukraine's ousted president conceded Wednesday that he made a mistake when he invited Russian troops into Crimea and vowed to try to negotiate with Vladimir Putin to get the coveted Black Sea peninsula back.

"Crimea is a tragedy, a major tragedy," Viktor Yanukovych told The Associated Press in his first interview since fleeing to Russia in February, following monthslong protests focused on corruption and his decision to seek closer ties to Russia instead of the European Union.

Putin said last month that Yanukovych had asked Russia to send its troops to Crimea to protect its people — a request seen as treason by many Ukrainians. Russian troops quickly overran Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority, taking over government and military facilities on the pretext of protecting Russians.

Asked about the move, Yanukovych said he made a mistake.

"I was wrong," he told the AP and Russia's state NTV television, speaking in Russian. "I acted on my emotions."

and the kicker....

"We must search for ways ... so that Crimea may have the maximum degree of independence possible ... but be part of Ukraine," he said.

Click link for remainder of article...

This is an interesting turn of events. So now he claims he made a mistake and is not happy Crimea is being occupied by Russia. While he states he wants Crimea back with Ukraine, I don't think that is going to happen. To be honest I think this might be the interview that will result in him "disappearing" or dying of a "medical condition".

Russia justification for going into Ukraine was based on Yanukovych's request. If he is backpedaling those justifications just got a lot more weaker (that's going on the premise Russia's actions were valid an lawful, which they were not). If anything it will force Putin / Russia to show even more of their hand.

What would happen if Yanukovych rescinded his request for Russian assistance?
What would happen if Yanukovich called for Russia to withdraw from Crimea?

Will Russia entertain the request as they consider him as the legitimate leader of Ukraine?
I wonder what the possibility of demanding access to the vote results in Crimea based on this info -

Yanukovych has now lost the Ukrainian presidency twice in the past decade. In 2004, his presidential win was thrown out after the Orange Revolution protests caused the fraudulent election to be annulled.

He was removed from office once and lost the other election. He got caught rigging the elections, just as, imo, Russia has done in Crimea.

This situation is becoming more and more unstable.

This is likely why he told all Ukrainians to hold a vote in each [district] to determine what they want. Unfortunately, Putin is a wise owl and played him like a fiddle. Too little, too late.

The funniest thing (not actually that funny) is every time Kerry or Obama open their pie-holes to "severely reprimand Putin"... or whatever.

If they would just come out and say, "Well played, Putin....well played...", we would all see Putin smile hugely and move on.

Again, our nation is weak and without clear goals. (Thanks to the neo-cons and the bleeding hearts who didn't understand the concept of isolationism and fixing the nation internally.)

sad....

reply to post by jrflipjr


Im not so sure...

The Ukraine federation idea was raised by Russia. On its face it "might" have merit, however the fact it came from Russia, and knowing what Russia did in Ukraine, I think its a ploy.

With NATO shifting assets I think its was a way for Russia to achieve its goal while trying to avoid a shooting contest with the west. Create a federation and you will see sections being absorbed by other nations.

The people of Ukraine should decide what kind of future they want and should be involved in all aspects. With that being said if, and its a big "if" Ukraine takes that as an option, I would want to see independent observers on the ground at all polling locations and election official's being required to confirm identity / residency. They need to avoid the mess that was created by the screwed up sham in Crimea.

Any person who is found to be an agent of a foreign country should be arrested, charged and tried.
Any foreign nation found to be interfering in the elections should face immediate UN sanctions.

As for the article and the former President.... His position is completely contrary to what we saw before. I stated sometime back that Russia was going to use the former President for their own needs and in the end I was correct. I seriously think the former President thought Russia would invade and reinstall him to his former office. When Russia stopped with Crimea and started setting up to take the East and South I think Yanukovych realized what was going and that he was being used.

For him to make the comments he did, while also stating Crimea should be a part of Ukraine, was him essentially signing his own death warrant. He turned on Ukrainians, he sold out Crimea and now he is rocking the boat with Putin and Russia.

Whatever is going to happen with Ukraine and Russia, its going to occur sooner rather than later. Even more so now with the joint military maneuvers Ukraine is going to host.

While Putin promised Merkel he would pull back troops from Ukraine's border, military resources are stating they see no indication they are being pulled back. With that being said people need to realize how military positioning works. When a nation states their is armed military units on their border does not mean you can walk to the border and see them. Those units could be 50-100 miles from the border.

The distinction comes in when units are stationed like that when there is no A-military base in the immediate area / B - no indication of training / C- the type of equipment / supplies present.